


the not my tv boyfriend blues

by fated_addiction



Category: GOT7, K-pop, KARA (Band), Korean Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction, Red Velvet (K-pop Band), 룸메이트 | Roommate (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-04-24 12:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4919962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fated_addiction/pseuds/fated_addiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"So let's date," he says, the night before he leaves for South America.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	the not my tv boyfriend blues

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: 'jackson/youngji + selugi/jb' and 'secretly dating' since I'm a total sap, or whatever and it's raining and I can't sleep.
> 
> Special outtake at the end!

Apparently this is the way it is going to go:

"So let's date," he says, the night before he leaves for South America. He sits across from her at the table, a coffee between his hands. The lid sits between them. "Seriously," he adds. "I can practice --"

Youngji blinks. "Wait. What?"

If there is anything that she has learned from knowing Jackson, it's that there are too many things that could come out of his mouth -- and he'll mean every single one of them, in varying degrees, with insane amounts of seriousness and honesty; so much so that it will take you awhile to catch up.

But when he called her for coffee this morning, just when he wrapped up the last of his promotions for the mini-album, she was like "Sure!" and "Of course, it's been awhile!" because it's been the busiest summer of her life and she's missed, missed being close, and text messages can only do so much after awhile.

She agreed to meet him at a coffee shop by his dorm, if only for the easy access and while she was sad that he wouldn't get to see her mom, she got it. You get a lot of things as an idol, Gyuri always scolds her (gently, of course) because how else would she learn.

This isn't what she was expecting though.

He was early, first. Which threw her into some kind of lop. He had ordered her a coffee. An Americano. Iced. Two sugars. He pulled out her chair. He had thrown his jacket over her skirt too, just after she sat down. This isn't new, but the abrupt way that it happened was strange. He was tense and she knew, but answered a couple of questions about her contribution to Hara's album and her group's upcoming trip to Japan for a surprise tour.

"Are you serious?" she asks, then slowly, darting her gaze around, waiting for his members to pop up and prank her. Or call her sister-in-law for an hour. 

He frowns. "When have I ever not been?"

Youngji blinks, biting her lip. Jackson leans forward, over the table. His fingers poke at her forehead.

"I don't mean that," she argues, batting his hand away. She scowls. "I know when you're serious. But this question --"

"Forget it."

Jackson's mouth settles. He looks down, picking up the lid for his coffee. It snaps back onto the paper cup. He looks resigned. She feels like she's missed a million and ten things, just now.

"Okay," she says slowly.

They don't talk about it again.

 

 

 

 

 

She meets Seulgi for the second time during Sunny's radio show. She is supposed to be having dinner with Sunny, to catch up before her comeback, but Sunny has to cancel and pushes both Youngji and Seulgi together, waving her hand around with her credit card and exclaiming: "You two! Perfect!"

Seulgi suggests seafood. Youngji happily agrees because it's really nice to be able to sit with another idol, a girl anyway, that is just as messy and clumsy and confused with life as she is too. They pick a restaurant near the radio station; they can't go too far with Sunny's credit card because she'll kill him. And that's not a threat at all.

"So," Seulgi starts with a mouthful of noodles, "are you two secretly dating?"

Youngji's mouth opens. "What?"

"I read the Internet," the other girl tells her. Then she feeds Youngji a piece of fish, grinning. "Do you at least like him? And can you introduce me to Jaebum oppa?"

Seulgi talks a million miles a second and it's great; it makes Youngji laugh and relax, pulling herself up to sit taller.

"I do like Jackson," she says quietly, shyly. Then frowns because she remembers the coffee ship. "No, we're not dating. And sure, I can introduce you to Jaebum oppa."

"Good," Seulgi says seriously. "Because he's cute. But I kind of want to hit him too. It's confusing. I also want my shoelaces back."

Youngji laughs. "Your shoelaces?"

"I gave him my shoelaces," Seulgi explains like it's obvious. "We ran into each other at a broadcast and Kyuhyun was being an ass since everyone thinks I'm _his_ girl, he was trying to gauge if he liked me, which, well, is also dumb because he is so not my type and I spend more time wanting to kick him in the face --"

Youngji blinks. Then she laughs again, feeding Seulgi a piece of fish. She watches the other girl take a big, dramatic breath and shifts into a strange kind of seriousness, something that she thinks she can sort of appreciate it.

"Do you want to secretly date him?"

Youngji feels her face flush. She looks down, picking at her noodles. She bites her lip and she shrugs. Then she shrugs again.

"He asked me," she confesses. "To date him."

"What!" Seulgi's eyes are huge.

"I don't know if he was serious," she protest. "You never know with him -- when it comes to me, at least, because he's half-man child, half... I don't even know! But when I asked him, he shut down."

"Now he's in South America with Hani."

"Now he's in South America with Hani," Youngji echoes, almost sourly.

Seulgi shakes her head. "At least Hani hates boys," she offers sympathetically. She grins. "We can watch the show together anyway." Seulgi waves her hand and suddenly, they are best friends without any rhyme or reason. "And make a list for when he comes back from South America."

Youngji agrees, smiling.

This is really how it starts.

 

 

 

 

 

They end up meeting at the coffee shop.

"Neutral ground," Seulgi explains, even as she sets up some bizarre, makeshift area the consists of a video camera, markers, a stack of papers -- for a list, she tells her too. "Because if we're at the dorms, it takes away the edge of mystery that girl groups have to have."

Youngji snorts and sits, drawing her legs up. There's a laptop nearby.

"I don't really want to watch this," she confesses. She groans, dropping head against her knees. "I'm going to get jealous..."

"Why?" 

Seulgi fiddles with the camera. When she turns it on, there's a loud beep in the room. She jumps and Youngji laughs, even though she moves to sit next to her.

"I read the Internet," she says dryly.

Seulgi snorts.

But Youngji's serious. She's played back that weird, out of character coffee date over and over again in her head, almost regretting every thing she's ever said. She's made lists in her bedroom. She's thrown them away too; only to make them again, obsessively, because this is what she does. She's rational to a fault, wanting to fix and plan the most of her life as she can.

"There are only so much articles I can read about Jackson's chemistry with everyone," she says, squirming. "It sucks." Her mouth purses and she's firm. "It really sucks."

Seulgi settles the camera in front, staying right by her.

"But he asked you out," she prods gently. Seulgi wraps an arm around her shoulder. 

"He did!" Youngji's voice raises and she glares. She groans again, rubbing her eyes. "But Jackson knows better -- it's like he goes and says the most generic thing ever, expecting to get it without saying yah! I like you! And I don't know, kiss me? Grab me and kiss me?"

"You're watching too many dramas," Seulgi says dryly, shaking her head.

"What else am I supposed to expect?"

Seulgi laughs. "I'm on your side," she says

They spend the next couple of minutes -- an hour, really -- talking about the stupidity of boys, and how not every girl is going to have an ah-ha! moment when it comes to confessions. Subtlety doesn't win the race, her mother agrees when she comes upstairs to bring the coffees and a cupcake to split. They don't actually watch Law of the Jungle and Seulgi spills whipped cream all over the stack of papers on the side.

The camera is on.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a list.

Seulgi finds it in her bedroom, right under the Shinhwa poster and reads, out loud:

"One," she says, "I would really like Wang Jackson to be a little obvious about his feelings for me -- I'm not slow, stop laughing Jackson, but... like, you're the worst if you think this is the way to go about it."

Seulgi puts the list down, blinks, and then shakes her head as she sits next to Youngji on her bed.

"Soul mates," she says dryly. "You are soul mates."

 

 

 

 

 

There isn't any kind of fanfare when Jackson comes back. She finds out because she does a broadcast with Jaebum (who blushes awkwardly when she says something about _shoelaces_ ) and Jaebum tells her to be ready for anything since this is the kind of thing that people in Jackson's life say to each other -- you have to be ready for anything and everything.

She comes home late though, bypassing her mother and her sister and leftover for her bedroom and suitcase. She is leaving for Japan tomorrow to do a show with Hara, then flying back because she has a packed schedule and they are going to start talking about Christmas albums and comebacks to get ahead for the company calendar.

When she opens the door, she has to slap her hand over her mouth so fast, cutting off a half-moan, half-scream because Jackson is stretched out, on her bed, reading a magazine like he never left.

He looks up, grinning. "Hey."

It smells like a salon in her room, she thinks, waving her hand around. "Seriously," she breathes. Her heart is racing. "You should have told me that you were coming!"

She kicks her door shut, flushed and trying to glare at him because he's grinning and she's confused since they did not see each other the last time like _this_. Her hands curl at her side and she kicks at the suitcase by her dresser.

"Wanted to see you before you left," he tells her.

"You _smell_ funny," she mumbles, and Jackson laughs.

He stands, halfway too, curling his hand around hers and dragging her to her bed. He forces her to sit; he doesn't let go of her hand, lacing their fingers together.

"Hi," he says again.

Youngji punches his arm. Hard.

"I missed you too," Jackson says, unfazed.

"I can't stand you." Her face is flushed. She ducks her head, her hair falling into her eyes. She squirms on the bed. "My heart is pounding, you idiot."

He shrugs, squeezing her hand. "Your mom said to go up. She gave me a hot chocolate earlier. I missed her."

She doesn't know what else to say. She doesn't know whether to hit him again, ask him straight out why he's here, or choose to ignore it and pack because this is stupid and they are probably just going to go and fight again.

"How's Hani?" she mutters and it's meant to be a dig, which she feels guilty about -- she likes Hani, actually, but watching television plays games with your head. She will swear by that forever.

Jackson's grin widens. "Fine," he answers. "She asked about you too. Asked me when I was going to kiss you and when you were going to make an honest man out of me."

"I'm too _young_ to get married," she blurts, clumsy.

It sets Jackson off into peals of laughter. She can only react and punch him again, in the arm. He twists and grabs her, still laughing, and somehow they swing and spill off the bed, a tangle of limbs as he presses over her. He is holding himself up over his forearms and his hair drops into his eyes.

Youngji forces herself to swallow. Her mouth purses and she reaches up, pushing her fingers into those strands of hair.

"Idiot," she murmurs.

His lips twitch. "I'm not good at this either, you know," he says. When he turns his head, his mouth touches her palm. It's a stupid, simple gesture but she struggles to remain focused, her heart in her throat. "I screwed up before I left. I was mad for no reason."

"I'm still confused," she says.

His expression changes. She feels totally out of her element, like they're going into a place and going into it _blindly_. It's getting older without being wiser, something that terrifies her.

"I want to date you."

He says it then. There's no flare. There's nothing dramatic. She just watches his mouth open and close, the words pressing against his lips and crawl back against her, staying there, waiting, stroking for some kind of response.

"You should have just kissed me," she says instead, and leans up, pushing with the back of her heels to press her mouth against his.

It takes her a second. She thinks: _I kissed him_. The thought swirls and sinks into her belly, tightening into her knots. Something else explodes though and her hands are trembling, pulling away to curl in his hair, against the back of his neck as he slowly drops into her, his body pressing over hers and against the floor. It takes her another second; he is kissing her back, she thinks.

It's his mouth then, and she tastes the coffee, the sharpness pushing against her tongue as his slides over her own, as if he were trying to figure out how to taste her too. Her teeth bite as his lip too and they both breathe, only to deepen the kiss and push into each other again.

She doesn't know how long they stay like this, on her floor, tangled limbs and just kissing, but her head is spinning and she swears that she is going to kiss him until she stops breathing because this is Jackson, this is Jackson kissing her and it's simple, it's perfect, it's going to drive her crazy and that's really fine. She is okay.

Jackson breaks away first and then drops next to her. Her head rolls onto his arm and her fingers poke at his nose, biting her lip as she watches him kiss her knuckles.

"I'm always going to be an idiot," he says, shrugging. "And so are you --"

"Yah!" she exclaims, cutting him off.

He laughs and turns, their foreheads resting against each other.

"It's just official now," he says.

**Author's Note:**

> **OUTTAKE**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Seulgi is early. 
> 
> She waves to Youngji's mother at the counter, picking a table in the back, on the first floor, so that it looks like she isn't trying too hard. A few faces recognize her, but there's no camera crew or company rep that makes it, well, obvious that she's awkwardly in public.
> 
> "He better not be late," she mutters, shaking her head. She's glad she borrowed Seungwan's baseball cap, pulling the brim down over her eyes and playing with the tape in her hand. She studies it and considers walking to the front to get a coffee.
> 
> The chair in front of her is pulled back.
> 
> It's abrupt. Jaebum drops in front of her, then pushes a shopping bag across the table. He looks amused and confused, something she's coming to wonder if it's just his face -- no, she decides, as he catches her watching him. That can't be it at all.
> 
> "Sorry about Kyuhyun oppa," she says, resting her chin on her hand. "I didn't think he'd go and steal your shoe laces."
> 
> Jaebum shrugs. "It's a fair way of warning me away, I guess."
> 
> Seulgi blushes, mouth dropping open. Her eyes are wide and Jaebum's expression changes, growing more and more serious. She feels like she's going to lose it.
> 
> "Uh." She clears her throat, pushing the tape across the table. "Tell Jackson that this is from my eonnis and I swore to tell her after they're married with a couple of kids that I filmed her confession so that he could get it together. And that if he hurts Youngji, I'll kill him." She nods. "I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy and the sisterhood, of course --" She sighs. "Anyways."
> 
> Jaebum picks up the tape, pocketing it. He nudges the small shopping bag closer to her. She blinks, taking it warily.
> 
> It takes her a moment (mostly, it's him staring at her and her staring back at him -- it all goes back to how they met, a long story about Kyuhyun stealing his shoelaces with the help of Wooyoung and Junho because something about Jaebum and saying that she was his ideal type; it's a confusing story that Amber tells her, but never tells her straight, but Seulgi did give him her own laces to apologize) and she reaches into the bag, pulling out a pack of multi-colored, bright and obnoxious shoelaces. 
> 
> Selugi starts to laugh. The sound is bright.
> 
> It might be love.


End file.
